US president signs biofuels bill

US president Barack Obama signed new tax legislation on 17 December extending incentives for ethanol and biodiesel.

The president signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 in the afternoon, following a late night approval from the US House on 16 December.

The Senate approved the legislation on 15 December.
For ethanol, the legislation includes:

Blender’s Credit for Ethanol (VEETC). The bill extends the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit through 2011 at the current rate of 45¢ (€0.34) per gallon;
Tariff on Imported Ethanol: the bill also extends through 2011 the existing 54¢, secondary tariff on imported ethanol and the related tariff on ethyl tertiary-butyl ether;

Small Producer Tax Credit: extends through 2011 the 10¢-per-gallon producer tax credit for small ethanol producers producing no more 60 million gallons of ethanol a year. The tax credit is applicable to just the first 15 million gallons of production for eligible producers;

Excise tax credits for alternative fuel and alternative fuel mixtures. The measure extends through 2011 the 50¢-per-gallon alternative fuel credit and the alternative fuel mixture tax credits, excluding black liquor (liquid fuel derived from a pulp or paper manufacturing process) from credit eligibility;

Alternative fuel vehicle refueling property: the measure extends the 30% investment tax credit for alternative vehicle refueling property for one year, through 2011.

For biodiesel the legislation retroactively extends the tax credit through 2010 and renews it for 2011.